During my time at Pitt, I had multiple leadership positions in clubs on campus. These experiences have been as valuable , if not more so, as my time in the classroom. Below, I have listed these important organizations and the experiences I had while serving in them.
Students for Sensible Drug Policy
SSDP is an international grassroots organization focused on ending the War on Drugs and advocating for harm reduction. I cofounded this club because people in my life had been directly affected by harmful policies implemented as part of the War on Drugs. I found that current policies strip people who use drugs of their human rights, treating addiction not as a public health issue, but as a threat to national security. The history of the War on Drugs is saturated with racism and the silencing of our most vulnerable communities. Not only does it fail to help people facing substance use disorders, it also criminalizes people who use responsibly and pose no threats to others. This is especially salient in low income communities of color, where people are incarcerated at much higher rates than their white counterparts for the same crimes.
Since founding Pitt’s chapter, my members and I have attended two international drug policy conferences, advocated for better advertisement of Pitt’s Medical Amnesty policy, disseminated stimulant harm reduction flyers during finals week, begun a petition to decriminalize drug testing materials and syringes, and hosted a Naloxone/Narcan training. After graduation, I hope to continue this work whether it be in my professional career or on the side.
Take Back the Tap
Take Back the Tap is a campaign run by 501(c)(3) Food & Water Watch to end the sale of bottled water on college campuses. I originally re-founded Pitt’s chapter of Take Back the Tap as part of a course, but I continued it throughout my years at Pitt. The fight for safe affordable municipal drinking water sits at the center of environmental and social justice.
I quickly learned that almost all major universities have a multi-million dollar contract with either Coke or Pepsi, which is separate from their dining contract with Sodexo, Aramark, etc.; this situation is referred to as pouring rights. Take Back the Tap is twofold in its goal to reduce plastic water bottle waste, as well as shift purchasing power away from the privatization of water. Pitt’s campaign has not succeeded in ending our contract with Pepsi, but we did accomplish some important work.
First, we successfully raised money to install a new drinking fountain in the Space Research Coordination Center, the building that houses our Department of Geology and Environmental Science. We found it ridiculous that students engaged in environmental coursework did not have an easily accessible water fountain to fill their reusable bottles. The more important work we did was with Pittsburgh’s Our Water Campaign, a coalition of local organizations fighting for safe municipal drinking water in the city. Pittsburgh has a serious lead contamination problem that came about after one of the world’s largest utility companies, Veolia, changed our anti-corrosion agent without notifying the public. This change was done to cut costs and resulted in old lead lines bleeding into the water that comes out of our taps at home. In addition to lobbying city council and the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Panel for publicly controlled municipal drinking water, we partnered with Design for America and Women for a Health Environment to provide lead testing and filters to our community.
Fossil Free Pitt Coalition
FFPC is a campaign focused on divesting the University’s endowment from fossil fuels. We were the first student organization in the history of Pitt to present to the Board of Trustees, and our work has resulted in a University-wide Socially Responsible Investment Committee. FFPC taught me the vital skills of grassroots organizing and how to negotiate with powerful stakeholders.
The Real Food Challenge
RFC is a national campaign to shift University purchasing power towards sustainably sourced food. Our goal is to achieve 20% “real food” by 2020. Real food fits into one or more of the following categories: local, humane, ecologically sound, or fair trade. I spent hours leading the RFC interns as we went through every single item on our main dining facility’s invoices to determine if it satisfied real food requirements. Pitt RFC has officially reached our 20% goal and is now moving to implement this campaign at other dining locations on campus.
